Here as the dust and rubble settle, two of your compatriots vanishing beneath the fallen and crumbled stone, clutching two unconscious figures (one still dying, by the way…)
In absolute darkness, Braius and Imogen, in the moment of accepting the possible end of your life, the sound of crumbling destruction consumes all around you and then stops. You reach around and the stone is all around you. It’s just stopped. Like a little cavity has kept you there. All of the stones of the entire crumbled temple begin to shift and begin to pull back. They lift and curl like the receding wave on a beach. The rubble begins to rescind and you watch as (in a matter of moments) the temple begins to reconstruct itself.
The towers standing in place, the cracks still present, but just set back. Where all the vines and leaves were, they have been left crushed on the ground, and now stands the beautiful, polished (if cracked) temple of the Arch Heart, gorgeous in it’s imperfection.
All of you stand agape watching this happen. As it rises up and the dust settles, you see standing in that front hallway, Imogen and Braius hunched over where they thought everything would come to an end. All of you also feel a presence. The very air itself seems to fill with force, like you’re all on the cusp of something important. The faintest bit of golden light glimmers from the temple chamber you just fled from and the air seems to grow warm.

• 03:19:41 Dorian lays on the charm to avoid releasing the emissary and then starts wrapping rope around the unconscious body.
  "Yes, yes, he needs this. It’s a medical thing. "
• 03:21:23 Fan Art Moment Meerkat Orym
• 03:25:26 Sam:“If I fail the medicine check he will die forever.”
  Laura:“Okay.”
  Travis:“Hey, let the dice decide.”
• 03:27:17 Ashton loots Zathuda’s sword
• 03:27:30 Travis:(kidding)“I take the funnel out of the Bag of Holding and I just lay against her dad…”
  Chetney:“Oh! Is that not what we’re doing? We’re not doing that? Okay.”
• 03:28:26 As you all jog into the temple past all the walls, you can see the thousands of spiderweb cracks throughout, but it all maintains its previous shape. You feel the cracks and (as beautiful temple as the temple was) it’s a different kind of beauty now. It’s fallen and reforged. Ashton, you find a very familiar and comforting pattern to that. As you all begin to step through the secondary hallway (in towards the center of core temple), the shattered fountain itself is reformed on the opposite side. Everything in this room, the pillars themselves, have now restructured themselves. Even that which was turned to mud has now been reformed back into the stone it once was and stands unscathed if not for the intricate broken lines that weave through everything, and it’s beautiful. As you all begin to step into the chamber, all the bits of shale and rock that was first dashed against the far wall gathers into the statue of the Arch Heart (where it once was at the opposite end of the interior) and it just stands there, resolute, smiling.
  It’s head shakes and looks down at the rest of you.
• 03:30:46 Abubakar Salim Takes the DM Chair The statue looks and regards each and every one of you, taking you all in. Stops at Braius. They walk out of the podium. It’s about eight foot tall. Looks at you.
  “Did you really have to do that?”
• 03:32:39 This sound. You’ve all heard it before. But from where?
  Surely, and for a short moment, your minds are catapulted back to the days of your birth, the moments you were literally ripped from the womb of your bearer. As the sky begins opening, these portals begin shooting out and these arms start snatching you and pulling you out from where you are. You find youselves in a field. Imagine if you will this vast expanse of delicate crystalline reeds, swaying rhythmically in time with one another. Above you are stars, but each star looking unique and individual. They stand there proud and close. It’s almost as if you could reach them.
  This cool air hits you, it’s fragrant and sweet and subtle. The smell of roses. A smell that makes you think of grace, perfection, beauty. Now you see a figure standing 30 feet away from you. They’re form is outlined by this soft glow of starlight. They look naked, but their skin is not as the flesh as you’d normally see. They’re a living canvas of a starry sky. A tapestry of constellations. He beckons you, Braius.
• 03:35:27 AH:“Swear fealty to me and I’ll let you live…So close, so close. I thought I had you…”
• 03:38:12 You don’t know any different. The feeling you have is so powerful and potent, it’s raw. It’s almost as if you are within the presence of divinity itself.
• 03:41:54 Orym confesses that he’s afraid of “breaking the balance” that allows both mortals and the deities to thrive.
• 03:43:02 Laudna recalls to the Arch Heart that they were “curious about oblivion” in the vision of the orb
• 03:44:34 Ashton:“I usually charge for that.” LARPing as a pimp as a jealous reaction. Fantastically cringe.
• 03:46:52 AH:“I want to let go. I want my family to let go. Now, how we let go…well, Big Doors don’t work. Death? No, no.”
• 03:47:01 AH:“Do you know what it means to become a Vessel?”
• 03:48:02 Laudna:“I actually know quite a lot about what it’s like to be a vessel with something else inside of you.”
• 03:50:22 We don’t get to know who the other diety is that wants to ‘let go’ with the Arch Heart. “Why ruin the fun?”
• 03:52:09 AH proposes the idea that they take control of Ludinus’ plan and use the power of Predathos to chase off the gods.
• 03:54:36 AH:“If you’re too slow, then we’re going to repeat the Calamity all over again. Then we go back to building a gate and waiting for the next moment to happen.”
• 03:55:42 Dorian:“How does it feel to have the shoe on the other foot?”
• 04:00:05 Chetney asks about the two gods that were absorbed/destroyed by Predathos in the vision.
• 04:03:03 Ashton:“Does your family know about this?”
  AH:“Oh no. I mean, I’m pretty sneaky.”
• 04:03:51 AH:(to Ashton the Rock Punk)“Does it make you hard?”
• 04:05:03 Braius wants to know why there isn’t an option to try sacrificing one god and seeing if Predathos stops.
• 04:06:39 AH:“He will not turn on humanity because you are nothing to Predathos. You are simply specks of dust to Predathos.”
  Orym:“Well I step on ants every day because I don’t know they’re there. I’m a little worried about the same thing, Lord.”
• 04:07:01 AH:“Containing it in this makeshift moon has obviously not worked.”
• 04:07:45 Braius:“All your family?”
• 04:08:41 Abubakar channels Asmodeus!
• 04:11:10 Arch Heart imitating the Allfather being melodramatic about “my children”
• 04:12:50 AH:“You are this close to an event happening again. The only difference is that not all of us are aligned on acting. There is a divide within the family.”
• 04:15:19 Arch Heart blushes by turning gold.
• 04:18:43 Dorian:“I will never care for the gods, ever.”
• 04:20:25 AH:“The idea of stepping in or actively partaking opens the door for everyone to partake in.”
• 04:21:09 Arch Heart pulls a star from the sky.
• 04:22:29 The star seems to whisper “knowledge is the weapon”
• 04:23:52 This is the hair that the Arch Heart dropped to Exandria at the end of the Aeor vision before the gods left to prepare and shut the Divine Gate.
• 04:24:32 A mask. Black feathers, and then a whisper,
  “Come find me.”
• 04:25:49 Bell’s Hells awaken on the cold floor of the temple.
• 04:26:33 Sam makes a stink about liking Abu’s voice more than Matt’s.
  Matt:“Braius doesn’t wake up.”
  As your senses come to you, one by one, the blurry experience of being back in your body begins to become more and more familiar as you sit up here in the cracked chamber of the reforged temple of the Arch Heart. The statue stands resolute and still. A golden band wrapped around your (Imogen) finger and the echoes of the choices to be made and the times to come.

♪Episode Song References♪

ᕕ( ᐛ)ᕗ

• 00:24:00 Laura sings “oh no” (unknown melody)
• 00:26:22 Christina Aguilera - Drrty
• 00:47:36 “Save a horse, ride a gloamglut” Big & Rich - Save a Horse (Ride a Cowboy)
• 00:53:31 Laura doots an unknown melody
• 00:58:49 Ludacris - Roll Out
• 01:14:51 Elton John - Someone Saved My Life Tonight
• 01:24:00 Mickey Vale ft Emily Vaughn - My Mind
• 02:40:38 “it’s been” Barenaked Ladies - One Week
• 02:43:05 Fergie - London Bridge
• 03:47:45 Kendrick Lamar - Not Like Us

Highlights

• 00:01:30 Tinyface Marisha
• 00:05:36 Sam won’t say no to makeup, maybe a little smokey-eye.
• 00:06:34 Liam’s Jersey pride
• 00:12:28 Roll Inish Bish
• 00:13:09 Robbie smells Travis’ dice and has a strong reaction
• 00:14:56 Liam’s initiative roll is so bad that Orym is last for the first time in the entire campaign.
• 00:15:47 Marisha:“First thing’s first. I’m the realest.”
• 00:18:18 Chetney gets out the Ludinus notes (from the same room where the funnel harness was found) and hands them to Fearne.
• 00:18:35 Taliesin starts signaling Travis (about the part of the plan Travis forgot) to use Brand of Castigation on Fearne in the shape of a rocking horse.

• 00:23:00 Braius’ Charcoal rendering of Fearne for Inspiration
• 00:27:10 Marisha:“It’s my eye makeup. I’m serving cunt.”
• 00:30:00 Fan Art Moment Ashton peeking up from the ground like an orca hunting seals on the ice.
• 00:31:37 Fearne initiates the deception
• 00:32:53 Matt:“One of these days I’m just going to Homer Simpson into Oblivion. It’s gonna be so nice.”
• 00:33:04 Marisha makes a noise of excitement at Ashley’s high roll thinking others were also going to celebrate.
• 00:33:30 Fearne:“Uppies!”
• 00:34:23 Fearne takes a knee in peaceful protest.
• 00:36:13 Dorian surrounds Fearne in a Force Cage to protect against Gloamglut’s breath attack and also plugs the entrance to the temple. “I’m sorry to put you in a cage. I know you wanted to spread your legs and be free!”
• 00:38:07 Sorrowlord Zathuda yanks on the reigns, saving Fearne.
• 00:41:04 Travis:“Look at the split lower jaw! I didn’t see it from my side.”
  Marisha:“That’s cool. That’s terrifying, but that’s cool.”
• 00:43:05 “We don’t need your influence on my daughter’s true path here.”
• 00:46:15 Imogen hops in Gloamglut’s saddle with a well-timed Misty Step
  Marisha:“He left him open. Come on, horse girl!”
  Sam:“Is this a Western Saddle or…?”
• 00:47:22 You can certainly try…
• 00:49:18 Laura gets excited about the additional abilities while riding a dragon
• 00:50:39 Ashley accidentally does a great impression of Navi.
• 00:51:51 Clarification on Zathuda’s position
• 00:52:11 Ira appears behind Zathuda. “It’s been a while, Athion.”
  Zathuda:“Fuck!” (very Geralt)
  Fan Art Moment Zathuda caught in the middle between Dread Laudna and The Nightmare King
• 00:58:30 Marisha:“Me and Ira baby…(nervous mumbling)…yeah.”
• 00:58:56 Marisha:“Force Cage fucks you again.”
  Travis:“If you know, you know.”
• 01:00:15 Matt knows Chetney’s Dark Augmentation ability without looking it up.
• 01:01:47 Taliesin:“He’s not even a real wizard, he’s a snow wizard.”
  Matt:(Ludinous voice)“That’s not nice.”
  Laura:“Think of Pumat Sol!”
• 01:05:05 IDubz takes a Legendary Action for an additional attack.
• 01:06:00 Counterspell
• 01:09:03 Laura exterminates a gnat on Liam’s butt
• 01:09:56 Matt trolls Taliesin a little bit.
• 01:11:21 Taliesin:“He’s trying to fuck with us.”
  Travis:“I don’t think he’s trying to do it. The fucking 'tis happening.”
• 01:12:25 Ashton breaks Luda’s concentration on Dimension Door and proceeds to make a slushy.
• 01:14:16 Marisha:“I forgot that they explodiate!”
• 01:18:57 Epic Fearne Moment First use of Fiery Teleportation in the campaign and escapes the Force Cage
• 01:21:26 Laudna:(under her breath)“You have proof.”
  Fearne:“I promise you and I have proof. I was fucking getting to it!..”
  Ashley then busts out a nat20 roll on “the dice that everyone hates” and spikes her Mister plush in celebration.
• 01:22:47 Robbie:“I’m still in the hallway…I’ll get there.”
• 01:25:41 Robbie:“I deserve it!”
  Travis:“I deserve to be punished.”
• 01:26:37 Travis takes 1d4 lightning damage
• 01:27:17 Laura:“Well, Ludinus was still alive when I was gonna pull on it.”
  Travis and Ashley share a laugh
• 01:29:26 Travis carries the stunned fly out of the room.
  Sam:“Offscreen gunshot.”
• 01:34:49 Zaddy:“I think we all have aligned goals to a degree, but we have to talk it through, now that we’re not being watched.”
• 01:39:01 Zaddy:“…but the Unseelie has a future without that pissant elf trying to guide it, and my daughter might very well be the key.”
• 01:43:00 How to Train your Dragon
• 01:43:53 Laura nervously pulls a Mary Katherine Gallagher with her hands in her armpits.
• 01:47:10 Orym:“The fawn has evidence you need to see before you can make any decisions.”
  Travis’ hyped reaction is very supportive
• 01:50:43 Chetney still milking his lucky Molaesmyr reveal
• 01:52:01 Zaddy:“…While I think what he plans to achieve can and will be done, he should not be the one granted that ability…we can make it our own.”
• 01:54:07 Ashley makes a faces during whispers from a high insight check.
• 01:54:44 Zaddy:“But your destiny awaits. As She Who Ate the Gods, Inferno Embraced and Caster of the Deepest Shadows. You are the future, Fearne Calloway, Lady Fearne Zathuda.”
• 01:58:14 Imogen:“Thanks for the ride.”
• 02:01:33 Zaddy:“I want us all to be free to pursue our natures.”
• 02:02:45 Emissary is visibly disappointed in Fearne’s reluctance to be a vessel.
• 02:03:52 Zaddy:“She knows there’s something in her that wants out. Something that takes what it wants. Something that wants to grab and feel unbridled. True freedom. A wild power within. A hunger for something…”
• 02:09:02 Liam:“I follow he like a page.”
• 02:11:04 How to Scritch Your Dragon
  The tip of its upper face, between the eyes and above the mouth.
• 02:11:27 Psychic Lance by Imogen
• 02:14:36 Sweet air high five after a clutch Silvery Barbs
• 02:15:33 Travis returns from the longest pee.
• 02:17:29 Orym’s Grasping Vine requires concentration when the whip is out.
• 02:20:45 Moar Psychic Lance
• 02:23:15 Guards:“Fuck that noise.”
• 02:25:05 The last supporting pillar goes down.
• 02:25:43 Sam:“Patricide!”
• 02:29:10 Thunder Wave by Braius with bonus goose boost
• 02:31:15 Ashley “If he dies, he dies.”
• 02:36:36 Marisha:“You want this pet dragon.”
  Ashley:“I kinda do.”
• 02:37:53 Marisha:“Silvery Barbs?”
  Matt:(dripping with sarcasm through gritted teeth)“I fucking love that spell.”
  Travis:“I don’t think you meant it when you said you love it.”
  Matt:“It’s universally despised by anyone who plays this game as a DM.”
• 02:38:46 Marisha:“Is it bad if I kill your dad?”
• 02:44:22 Ira only has Legendary Actions not Legendary Resistances
  Travis:(Palpatine voice)“How disappointing.”
• 02:49:34 Matt:“I know we’re going a little long here…”
• 02:50:39 Braius:“Please Lord, give me a sign.”
• 02:51:47 Fan Art Moment Unconscious Zathuda on the ancient temple’s central platform (revealed after the fall to portray an intricately carved face of the Arch Heart).
• 02:53:00 Gloamglut flees
• 02:55:13 Laura:“What about Ira?”
  IDubz:“I have my means, don’t worry.”
• 02:59:03 Ashton:(to Chetney)“You mind taking a punch?”
• 03:02:55 Braius and Imogen are still carrying the unconscious body of Zathuda to the exit when the temple collapses on them.

INTERMISSION

and Matt and Dani too!

🎶 Good Morning. Let’s do it.
Ride it. My dragon.
My saddle’s…waitin.
Come and…jump on it. 🎶
(Ginuwine - Pony (Temultuous Mix))

with the Laudna figurine looking on from the bottom right corner

from the POV of the Laudna mini?

Sam’s Mug

“NANA,
U
UP?”

Travis and Ashley, too

Liam visiting the Discord

Does this mean you’ll be watching along?

The break isn’t until after 3 hours into the episode. Sounds pretty intense if Matt couldn’t find a stop point.

Critical Role Collaboration with Wayfinder

by Nails by Maja

Fan Art Gallery: Nana

by bean creative

by Lvna Mura

by funscaryy

The Amethyst Sierras by Cyarna

by die-o

by Poison Ghoul

by Kyrissa

Sam’s Teaser Tweet

The Mighty Nein become Level 13!

• Caduceus rolled a 5 for his hit die, bringing him up to 115 HP. He, like all the casters, gains access to 7th level spells. Some standouts are Plane Shift, Regenerate, Conjure Celestial, and Resurrection.
• Beauregard rolled a 7, for a new total of 109 HP. She gains the Tongue of Sun and Moon ability, allowing her to understand all languages and be understood in turn.
• Yasha rolled a 2 for a new total of 140 HP. She gains a 2nd Brutal Critical die, which gives her a lot of extra damage (up to a max of 53 with her Magician’s Judge; or 69 (53 + 16 Acid) with her Skingorger’s active ability).
• Veth rolled a 3 for a new total of 89 HP. She gains the class feature Versatile Trickster, which allows her to use the Mage Hand cantrip to gain advantage on someone within range as a bonus action. Hopefully it sees more use than her Magical Ambush ability.
• Caleb rolled a 5 for a new total of 83 HP. Like Jester and Caduceus, he gains access to 7th level spells. With his discussion with Veth this episode, one of them is more than likely going to be Teleport, which will allow him to chauffeur the Nein around the world without begging Essek for help. Other options include the aforementioned Plane Shift; Simulacrum, Magnificent Mansion, Delayed Blast Fireball, and Sequester.
• Jester rolled a 3 for a new total of 117 HP. Her 7th level spell options are the same as Caduceus’s, so I won’t recap. She also gained the unique ability to speak through her illusory duplicate from the Traveler this episode, so long as she’s close enough to hear the conversation it’s having.
• Finally, Fjord took his 3rd level in Paladin and rolled a 9, bringing him up to 133 HP. At 3rd level, Paladins gain immunity to all diseases and, more importantly, their subclass. Given his deity is the Wildmother, him taking the Oath of the Ancients would be appropriate, which gives him the Nature’s Wrath (causes spectral vines to ensnare a traget within 10 ft of Fjord) and Turn the Faithless (causes both fey and fiends within 30 ft of Fjord to run away and reveals them if they’re invisible) via his Channel Divinity ability and the Ensnaring Strike and Speak with Animals spells for free.

Battle Map!

Some of the episode’s art scroll

Four days until Traveler Con. You have amassed yourselves as the hunting crew. Kieren and Ashelyn have decided to stay back and help with other elements (so I don’t also have to control 2 NPCs in this). Pushing forward into the first few hours of your journey, you trek through familiar territory of the jungle. Making your way towards the region where the vegetation begins to wither and gray. The space where you encountered your first undead-type creature. Skirting around it to avoid a majority of the pitfalls that seemed to plague Caduceus your first time through. Pretty sure it’s not happening again.
You feel like you may have found some tracks earlier than you anticipated. You begin to follow them a little bit to a northward direction, diverging from the path you guys first walked to the volcano. The tracks weave a bit and you eventually come upon what looks to be something in the way. A furry beast has been killed and eaten here. There are actually two sets of prints that diverge. One continues north by northeast direction, and one taking the southern path that you choose to follow. Of the two sets, you begin to notice there might have been a pair that were hunting or they came at different times and one scavenged the other’s kill. You’re uncertain. They seem to be similar, but the southern prints are heavier. They sink deeper into the mud and they seem to be slightly larger than the other set.

• 02:05:20 Caleb and the Dicks. “You Caleb’d the dick on that one.”
• 02:06:06 Beau:“Why did you eat the mud, though?”
  Jester:“I don’t know, I just thought I’d heard of people doing that when they’re tracking.”
  Beau:“It makes you look super cool.”
• 02:07:17 Jester:“Hey tree!”
• 02:09:40 Beau:“Chief Jester Esquire”
• 02:10:02 Veth:“Jester. You are one of the two greatest detectives I’ve ever met. If you think the bigger one is feeble, I’m with you 100%.”
• 02:12:46 Larger and deadlier albino T-Rex
• 02:13:35 Battle Maps!
• 02:16:33 Liam:“Cuz rogues are broken.”
  Matt:“In some ways, yes.”
  Liam cocks his head and grins
• 02:19:58 Resident Echo, Caleb
• 02:21:15 Veth falls from a tree blowing stealth for the group.
• 02:24:00 Beauyasha attack!
• 02:26:53 Yasha rages
• 02:29:28 Brennato’s Voltaic Bolt
• 02:30:53 Veth:“Call me Ishmael.” (opening line to the book Moby Dick)
• 02:35:05 Fan Art Moment Caleb’s Echo Image casts a fireball like a basketball over Jester’s damaging Blade Barrier ring to hit the albino T-Rex.
• 02:35:43 Fan Art Moment Caleb’s transformation into a T-Rex with Bengal cat stripes (like Frumpkin!)
  Matt:(without another T-Rex mini on hand)“…you’re just going to get a shitty alligator.”
• 02:36:05 Ashley:“Mrrow!”
• 02:37:09 Fjord:“Nah, I’m good.” Eldritch Blast
• 02:40:15 Beau floats the idea of T-Rex mounts again
• 02:41:07 Yasha Airlines: We Love to Fly and it Beaus
• 02:43:18 Matt:“I can be proud and hurt at the same time.” (after Taliesin used an ability to cancel Matt’s nat20 roll)
• 02:44:18 Laura does some quick math, if 34 piercing damage is the halved amount from something halved again means the crit would have done ~136 (68*2) damage, which would have one-shotted Beau (and most anything, really)
• 02:45:41 Yasha:“Clever Girl.”
  
• 02:46:51 Matt:“Somewhere a Duck Barbarian would be proud.”
• 02:48:19 Nuclear T-Rex
• 02:54:14 Liam:“A one. A two-whoo! Three.”
• 02:55:00 “That’s just right!”
• 02:58:15 Caleb-T-Rex keeps taking bites out of the defeated one.
  Veth:“That’s for paying customers!”
• 03:17:05 Jester asks if anyone else is freaked out by the vision of the roaming city in the Abyss
• 03:19:47 Nine eyes
• 03:23:02 Taliesin:“Perfection.”
  
• 03:29:46 The day before Traveler Con, “Traveler’s Eve” accompanied by a music change.
• 03:30:23 “Let Chaos Reign”
• 03:31:20 Beau:“Oh my god, are you going to do a keynote speech?”
  Jester:“I’ll announce the Dick Hunt.”
• 03:36:36 Artagan:“I’ve given similar gifts to many of these people, and well look at them.”
• 03:39:27 Artagan is “the asshole Batman”
• 03:41:07 Beau:“No one goes to 9am panels.”
• 03:43:17 Veth invites Vilya to Traveler Con and empathizes with her trepidation about reuniting with an estranged child.
• 03:47:34 Vilya sprouts 3 flowers (pink, white, and blue). Asks to give the pink one to Caduceus, the blue one to Fjord, and the white flower to Yasha, and her thanks to the rest.
• 03:49:30 A tender mother moment “When I do, I’ll think of you.”
• 03:50:21 Vilya passes on her 350 gold to Anola.
• 03:52:13 Fan Art Moment The scene (viewed through the Tree Gate) of Keyleth recognizing her mother and happily running towards her.
• 03:53:06 Sam:“What money?”
• 03:53:14 Group shot (pun!) of the “Let Chaos Reign” hand gestures